Garrosh is imminent! Back when he was announced, there were grumblings on Twitter from people saying “Oh no, not another orc. Enough orcs already!” It is something that I myself was guilty of. There were also other voices, people who had been waiting on Garrosh for a LONG time.

The list below is from a video that was put up in 2011. Now, if you are a player that is really excited about any of the names circled in red, you’ve been waiting for 6 years for the hero they teased to be released. That sucks. It would have been far better if none of these heroes had been teased. Each one being a complete surprise.

Every hero announcement, no matter how cool it is, is immediately deflated by the fact that it’s not the one hero you wanted. And while that’s a natural part of the cycle for Heroes of the Storm. It extra sucks when they’ve teased the hero you want and they never seem to come.

It’s weird because when a hero from a franchise I don’t play get’s announced I’m indifferent, but when a hero from ‘my’ game gets released, that is when I get disappointed. I know it’s a game, and more heroes are always coming. I love HotS and enjoy playing it with the characters that are there, (Leper Chromie FTW).

Oh well, the genie is out of the bottle now. I need to go update the list now. Put a Check mark on Garrosh and I guess on Ghost Kerrigan as well?

*Mekkatorque is in the category of heroes I am discussing, but the reasoning applies to all of them.

Goblin Alchemy in Warcraft is somewhat underdeveloped. This is strange because from the very beginning goblins were alchemist. In Warcraft 2 when goblins were introduced, their units were produced at, or dependant on, the Goblin Alchemist building. This tradition was continued in Warcraft 3 with the Goblin Alchemist hero. Goblins even get a bonus to alchemy in World of Warcraft from their racial trait, Better Living Through Chemistry. So where are the goblin alchemist characters and heroes?

Gallywix could offer an opportunity to take goblins back to these roots. There are many firmly established goblin engineers, most notably Gazlowe. Having a strong goblin alchemist hero would diversify the gobin kit and differentiate them from gnomes more. Putting the Bildgewater Cartel and Undercitry in competition could create some interesting tension in the Horde as the two faction both try to corner the market. Expanding into this industry would even be the natural next step and goblins. They already hold a strong monopoly on engineering, but that market is split between Bildgewater and Steamweedle. Gallywix knows enough to diversify his portfolio of investments.

First things first, Gallywix needs to ditch the gnome spidertank. If he is going to be cast as an alchemist, he should have a mount created through alchemy, such as a hobgoblin. The entire hobgoblin race is created by chemical alteration and would be a good first step in taking his character that direction. Seeing Jastor being carried around in a sedan chair by a hobgoblin would really set him apart visually and emphasize the tone for his character. There is also a goblin that rides a hobgoblin in World of Warcraft, Helix Gearbreaker. Helix would be a great source of inspiration for Gallywix’s move set, especially the jumping on heads bit. He would be like a reverse Abathur, jump onto enemies from head to head leaving debuffs and explosives in his wake. It’s mentioned that Jastor used to be a street fighter when he was younger, and he’s even seen doing the head jumping move in the short story, “The Blank Scroll“.

I there is a lot of room in the alchemist kit for healing, buffs, debuffs, splash damage and more. having Trade Prince Gallywix come to the Nexus in the form of a goblin alchemist would be a welcome addition.

We know that Blizzard has planned to put Mekkatorque in Heroes of the Storm for a long time (Since 2011 at least) so why wait? My first thought was that they wanted to wait until the HotS meta was in a certain place for some reason.

But does it make sense to hold a hero until either a counter hero, or until a certain map has been released first? Any new hero that is added needs to function on all the existing maps without breaking them, and will need to be countered by multiple heroes that already exist.

It could be they are waiting for Mekkatorque to do something in World of Warcraft. We’ve seen Mekkatorque in his new battle suit. I wonder if he has some kind of upcoming scene where they will show him doing things that they want to bring in to HotS, but they don’t want to spoil what’s going to happen for World of Warcraft players. Admittedly, that’s a reach, and might be 100% wishful thinking, but the idea of it makes me excited for BOTH games.

Maybe they want to make him a multi-class character, but that he got too complicated. Now they are watching how Varian does. Working kinks out of the multi-class concept with a straight forward character before trying a more complicated one. As a bonus, they get to test the waters for how multi-class characters are received, and get us the player familiar with the basics of how the system work before adding a layer of complexity on top of it.

Of course, this is all assuming that Mekkatorque hasn’t been scrapped in favor of Chromie. I highly suspect that the HotS team would like a character that represents each race and class from WoW and that Chromie ticks the ‘gnome’ box. Datamining had shown Mekkatorque with a ‘tar barrel’ attack that might have turned in to Chromie’s Slowing Sands. Chromie also has the Gnomeregan score as her theme music instead of the Caverns of Time music. Doesn’t leave a lot for future gnomes.

The worst part is I can’t just say “we’ll see” because if Mekkatorque is never released, we could speculate forever. On top of that he could get scrapped, and then picked back up later for a completely different concept. HotS is so random I am completely unable to guess what character might be coming next.

I actually hope I lose, lol. I do WANT to see Mekkatorque added to the game (It makes it for more likely that I will be added!). And the fervent fandom that has grown around Pepe has stopped making sense to me.

Plus, with a real life, work and kids, I have not drawn anything in a while. It’s be nice to HAVE TO draw something so that I actually do it.

I’ve asked @Arakkoa before what distinguishing characteristics Verroak has, but I all remember him saying was “He’s real old”

I have a bet now with @Arakkoa of https://arakkoa.wordpress.com/ fame.

He thinks that Mekkatorque will be added to Heroes of the Storm BEFORE Pepe is added to HotS.

I think that Pepe will make it in to HotS ((either as a Skin, Mount or some kind of new cosmetic accessory any character can wear on their head)) BEFORE Mekkatorque makes it in.

the wager? Who ever loses has to draw a picture of the other persons character exercising their craft. I’ll draw a picture of Verroak mixing potions, OR he will draw a picture of ME piloting a giant mech! This all hinges on what they announce before the end of the year. *Edit: 01/01/2017

With Blizzcon coming up, surly the roster for HotS will be expanded. Who will it be? The racial leader of the ever overlooked gnomes? Of the bird that is a bird, that sits on you head and wears funny hats!?

I’m bored and want to get violent! Being added to Hearthstone was entertaining for a while, but honestly getting randomly sucked through Unstable Portals all the time is starting to get tiresome. Trying to get ready for a shower, BAM battlefield.

At least the Nexus comes with interesting outfits. I just KNOW they are going to pick Mekkatorque first. That ALWAYS happens, BUT you can be sure as fel that I will be right on his heels!